Today is #GivingTuesday, a movement responding to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you plan on participating, please support your favorite sports team! We need help funding travel to our tournaments next semester, which will cost us more than $2500.

You can donate to our club by selecting “Friends of Women’s Water Polo” (we’re at the bottom of the list) here.

Junior Katy Cooke prevents an opponent from making a pass. Photo by Page Wood.

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We really appreciate any support you can provide! Every bit helps us reach our funding goals.

BU Women’s Water Polo rounded off our final scrimmage of the semester with a solid win! In previous contests, the Cheetahs had barely lost to Northeastern, losing 9-10 both times. Finishing off our season with a handy defeat was fantastic.

The game started well with the lady Terriers scoring 3 goals in the first few minutes. Northeastern was able to catch up and the first quarter ended at 3-3 tie. The Terriers regained momentum in the second quarter and were able to finish the half strong, leading by a score of 7-4.

During halftime Lia, our assistant coach, reminded us that it would be our last game with Phoebe Katelaris (our Australian exchange student) and our Spring 2015 study abroad students (Olivia Wade, Christie Tang, Ashley Reischman, and Allison Durkan). With the ignition lit, the Terriers ran up the score. Both new and old players made major contributions to the goal-fetching. A strong defense, lead by Varsha Srivastava and Shireen Kheradpey in goal, blocked and stole the ball frequently, which fed out a strong counter attack. In the end it was a 16-6 BU win! A special shout out goes out to all the new players who really stepped up despite having been playing water polo for only three months!

Thanks to BU Men’s Water Polo members who helped officiate the game and live-tweeted. Next semester looks to be a fun and exciting season! In the spring, the Cheetahs will be playing in two league tournaments and one championship tournament in the hopes of qualifying for Nationals! Stay tuned for updates on our spring schedule and ways you can help support the team!

Today’s scrimmage was our first win of the semester! We beat Boston College 13-8 in a friendly scrimmage. Despite the unfortunate weather, we had a few vocal fans come out to support us.

Quite a few players managed to score this afternoon. Maeve O’Connor scored an impressive four goals off of drives and outside shots. Hat tricks by Elena Quijano and Shireen Kheradpey pushed our team ahead. Tessa Chapman, Olivia Wade, and Kelia Cowan topped off BU’s goal count. Our team held a strong against BC’s aggressive attacks. Freshman goalie Varsha Srivastava ran a tight defense and made a number of incredible saves.

On November 16, we are scrimmaging Northeastern University Women’s Water Polo Team. Hope to see you there!

Last Sunday the girls held their second round robin tournament with Northeastern and Boston College. The Terriers played a hard game against Northeastern, but unfortunately lost by one point (10-9). Despite this loss, the team showed some serious improvements during the game. A few girls deserve some special recognition: Kelia Cowan played amazing defense and offense throughout the night, scoring in each game and making fantastic defensive saves. Phoebe Katelaris also played an incredible two games. She scored at least twice in each game and was often times beating everyone down the pool to score a few points off fast breaks. Camilla Stejskal had a break through game as her speed allowed her to make several defensive saves.

BU and BC faced off in the second game, and although the Terriers played another great game, tiredness got the best of us and we lost to BC 7-5. We saw some more great plays during this game including several great shot blocks by our goalie Varsha Srivastava, and Shireen Kheradpey demonstrated extreme ball handling skills as she repeatedly stole the ball from BC. All in all, it was a great night for the Cheetahs.

For the remainder of the preseason, the Cheetahs will work more on endurance training and focus on ball handling skills. This upcoming Sunday (November 2), we will scrimmage BC again so we can practice playing in a game-like scenario. This helps us learn our weaknesses so we can fix them before the competitive season rolls around. Come out to support us! And if you can’t make it, not to worry; we will make another blog post next week.

The Cheetahs have been very busy these past few weeks. Regular practices have continued as part of preseason training. The Cheetahs also hosted a round-robin tournament with Boston College and Northeastern University on Sunday, Sept. 28th at FitRec. Their record stood 1-1 at the end of the day, as they fell 10-9 to Northeastern, but through hard work and mental strength they were able to #BeatBC 6-5! For many girls on the team it was their first time playing in a water polo game, and everyone did a fantastic job. A special shout out to our freshman goalie Varsha Srivastava who blocked several difficult shots.

On Oct. 4th, the Cheetahs traveled to Worcester, MA, to volunteer and run in the Megan Lally Memorial 5K. The girls helped direct and cheer runners on throughout the race. It was also one of the first bonding activities they had out of the pool. A special thanks to Tessa Chapman, Katy Cooke, and Steph Borgestein who fundraised $175 and ran the 5K. Here’s a picture of the team in Worcester:

And finally, a big thank you to all of the fans who came out to support us during our scrimmage and to those of you who cheered us on via Facebook and Twitter. We really appreciate it! Stay tuned for more updates as the girls look forward to another preseason scrimmage on 10/26.

The summer is coming to an end and we’re finally making our way back to BU!

The team had a great season last year complete with great new players, challenging tournaments, and a second place finish in the Collegiate Water Polo Association’s North Atlantic League. With school approaching quickly, the Cheetahs are excited to meet new players and begin training in September!

To any players interested in our team: please keep checking our blog for new information. We’ll be posting more frequently as the school year starts. You can also keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter. We welcome players of all skill levels!

The fall season is officially underway and the team is getting back into competition shape! We will be having our first interscholastic scrimmage against Boston College this coming Sunday (10/20) at 3 pm at FitRec! Please come out and support your favorite water polo team!

REMINDER: Our first meeting/practice of the season is TOMORROW in FitRec room 221 at 8PM! Please bring a suit, cap and goggles, we will be practicing at 9PM. Stop by if you have any interest in the team; we are always looking for new players!

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us at the Boston University Club Sports Expo! We hope you learned all about our team and are excited about joining us in the fall! Our first informational meeting and practice will be held on Wednesday September, 11 at 8 PM in class room 221 in FitRec. We will be getting into the pool at 9 so make sure you come prepared with a swim suit (one-piece), cap and goggles!
We can’t wait to meet everyone!

As the summer is winding down, BU women’s water polo can’t wait to get back into the water! For all those interested in joining our team, please come visit us at the Club Sports Expo on September 2 at noon at FitRec (915 Commonwealth Ave).
We welcome players of all skill sets, so come see what we are all about!

We hope every one is enjoying a nice summer break and getting much needed rest before classes and the water polo season start again!

The Cheetahs are looking forward to welcoming new players this coming season from the Class of 2017! With a new year brings many opportunities for the BU Water Polo teams and we can’t wait to get back in the pool in September!

To all new and interested players (of all skill types) please watch out for updates on the schedule and our first introductory meeting in September. All information will be posted on our blog and facebook page. Please do not hesitate to email bugirlswaterpolo@gmail.com with any questions. We can’t wait to meet you all in September and welcome you to the Cheetah Zone!

The Cheetahs returned from Nationals in Minneapolis, MN, after a long weekend full of water polo and cold weather. We played three hard games against very strong teams. We are very happy with all that we have accomplished this year, especially being the first BU Water Polo team to make it to the Collegiate Water Polo Association‘s National Championship!

The first game took place Friday morning against University of Central Florida. The Cheetahs were overcome by a score of 21-4, but the girls carried their heads high, happy to have the chance to compete at Nationals.

After losing their first game, the girls were excited to get in and play Texas A&M. The Cheetahs fought hard but couldn’t seem to stop Texas’s aggressive offense, and fell to the Aggies 16-3. After this hard loss the Terriers were set to get back into the pool at 9:50pm Saturday night. The girls spent all day Saturday studying to get ready their final exams upon returning to Boston.

Despite the late game time, the team was ready to get in and play hard against the University of California Santa Barbara. The Terriers fought hard in their best game of the tournament. Goalie Bridget Eastes played her best game of the season with some key blocks! The Terriers lost 13-3 but coaches Liz Lacy and Emily Millard-Pace were happy with the game.

With no scheduled games for Sunday, the team watched the Championship game between UCF and UC Davis. An intense battle to the end, UC Davis came out on top winning their second national championship in a row! The Cheetahs then headed out to the Mall of America to shop and relax a little before the trip back to Boston.

Nationals closed out a season full of traveling, nail biting games and team bonding for the Cheetahs. We are so happy with how far we have come as a team and cannot wait to see what the fall has to bring us. A BIG thank you to everyone who has helped and supported our team throughout this exhausting but successful year!

The Boston University Men’s and Women’s Water Polo clubs hosted our first annual Austin Brashears Invitational April 27-28. Austin Brashears was the men’s team captain and president before he lost his life in a tragic car accident last year while he was studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand. BU Water Polo suffered a huge loss that day. To honor our fallen comrade, we organized a tournament in his name.

We combined the tournament with our ever-popular alumni games. Former BU players from around the nation come home to play current players in an exciting battle. The players who started the water polo teams at BU usually return to view the progress we’ve made.

On the women’s side, Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Masters team compiled by head coach Liz Lacy, and our very own Cheetahs competed against one another. In the men’s division, Boston College, two teams of Metro players (a Masters team that practices at MIT; you can check out their page here), and the BU men’s team played each other in very exciting and fun games.

The Lady Terriers started the tournament playing our coach’s Masters team. Liz, who has been our head coach for the past year, led her team to victory. (Knowing our weaknesses, the Masters were able to take advantage of our goalie and defense.) The final score in the first game of the day was 9-5.

Next up, the current Cheetahs faced off with our beloved alumnae. Former BU players from near and far returned to Boston to compete. Even some of the ladies who started BU Water Polo came back to play with us! In a tight game to the finish, the current BU team topped the alumnae 10-9. After the game, we chatted with the former players. It’s crazy to think that this could be us in a few years!

In our last game of the day, BU played BC. With a historic rivalry and our alumni teams watching, the Cheetahs set out to make BU proud. In a back-and-forth game, we rallied against BC. Going in to the final minute, we were 7-7. However, with 37 seconds left in the clock, a wide outside shot by BC slipped past goalie Lia Breunig. BU was unable to score in the remaining seconds. Final score of the game was 7-8 with BC taking home the win.

In our final game of the tourney, BU defeated MIT 7-3. With MIT short on players, we loaned them a few of our own players to make the teams more even. Though the score was initially close, BU pulled away in the second half.

The female terriers returned from Yale yesterday and won 2nd place in the North Atlantic division. The team beat Wellesley College and Bowdoin College on the first day and MIT early on in the second day. In the championship game between Yale and BU, Yale won 11-8. Even though Yale won, the girls end the season with a score of 11-1. Girls, be proud! We defeated Yale twice in the first two tournaments. Although Yale placed first in the North Atlantic Division, the team will not be participating in nationals because of the time conflict between the games and their final exams. That means the cheetahs are headed to Minnesota!

We are so happy with what we have accomplished as a team. Many of our players had not picked up a water polo ball until the beginning of this school year and we have all improved significantly. To be able to win second place is a huge achievement and we are so proud of everyone for their hard work and determination. Thank you to our coaches, Liz Lacy and Emily Millard, for putting up with our craziness and for pushing us to do our best.

After the terrible tragedy on Monday, the women’s team prayed for those who lost their lives and for the safety of the city. As you have probably seen from reports, the city was on lockdown on Friday and has now been lifted. The cheetahs will still be participating in this weekend’s tournament in Yale University and will be leaving tomorrow morning.

The Lady Terriers return to Maine for their second tournament of the season. The game was held in Bowdoin College from April 6-7. On the first day, the cheetahs went up against Wellesley College 7-1 and then defeated Bates College with a score of 9-5. The next day, the cheetahs were neck to neck by halftime with a score of 4-4. But the girls won with a score of 8-5! The last game against Bowdoin College was even more intense with a score of 4-4 by the end of the third quarter. Luckily the fierce cheetahs scored a goal and finished with a nail biter of 5-4. The team came back home with their heads held up high and still hold the title as the undefeated team for the North Atlantic Division.

Championships, here we come!

Here is the schedule for the championship game, as well as the scores for all the games in the season:

Don’t you miss hanging out with your old water polo teammates in university or beating your rivals in a “friendly” scrimmage? Then grab your favorite swimsuits, call your teammates up and jump into Boston University’s pool on April 27-28. BU’s Men’s and Women’s Water Polo are hosting the Austin Brashears Invitational, an alumni tournament for teams in the Boston area. Each team will play three games. Please RSVP by April 10th and reserve your spot with a check made payable to Boston University for $300. Help spread the word to other schools! Hope to see you then!

Austin Brashears was a mechanical engineer student at BU but he lost his life on Saturday May 12, 2012. He was studying abroad in New Zealand when a tragic car accident took his and two other students’ lives. Not only was Austin the captain of the Men’s Water Polo team, he was actively involved as a leader in the College of Engineering community. The team missed him dearly and will never forgot their warm-hearted, fierce, hard-working captain.

ALOHA! It’s been a week since the team’s trip to Oahu, Hawaii and we’re not happy about being back in the cold. We had a blast swimming in the clear ocean and tanning (or burning) under the warm sun. But the team also worked hard to prepare for the upcoming tournament and championship game in April. We did a mixture of exercises, mixing both land and water workouts: hiking up Koko head (1048 steps!), scrimmaging at different pools and running relays on the beach. Thank you to Le Jardin Academy, Kamehameha School, Iolani School and Mililani High School for allowing us to scrimmage with them in their amazing outdoor pools. Since both our team and the opposing teams split into the more advanced group and the less advanced group, everyone had a lot of time in the water and learned much more and showed a vast improvement. The girls learned a lot from the trip, not only about water polo, but also about each other. The cheetahs are ready to come out strong for their next games!

The women’s water polo team just won their first tournament in Maine, hosted by Bates College! GO CHEETAHS!!! This tournament and the next tournament at the beginning of April will count towards the championship game. On Sat. March 2, the girls first went up against Bowdoin College, with 14-8, then went up against Yale University. Yale beat the girls last year in the New England Division and won first place, but the cheetahs fought strong and hard and won a score of 11-7. The last game of that day was against Bates College with 10-3. The next day, the girls went up against MIT and won with a score of 7-3.

The following weekend, the girls are going to travel to Hawaii for spring break! Big thanks in advance to the Cowan and Kheradpey family for their generosity in providing us with food, housing and transportation.

The girls have less than a month until their next tournament in Maine again, held at Bowdoin College. Even though most of the girls haven’t learned water polo until the beginning of the school year, they have shown definite improvement: they communicated in the water, had spectacular defense and shots, and thought as a team. The cheetahs are extremely proud of one another. Keep it up!

The cheetahs just came back from their St. Francis Tournament. The first day we competed with Iona College who won 18-2. (Don’t worry cheetahs, we’ll do better next time!) The next day, we went up against Cornell University (11-10) and NYACK. NYACK didn’t have enough teammates so a couple of our teammates played for their team.

Even though this was a “friendly” tournament and our real tournament doesn’t start until March 2 held in Bates College, Maine, many of the players learned a lot from these games. We have 5 more practices before we head off to Maine. Get excited girls!

Come to Raising Cane’s (949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215) to support the BU Women’s Water Polo team on Friday, November 16th from 12pm-12am. One dollar from every combo ordered goes to our team. Make sure to mention the Women’s Water Polo team and present the flyer when ordering and invite your friends! The flyer will be posted soon (and also on our facebook wall and event wall) so that you can print it out.

The cheetahs won their first scrimmage of the year on Sun. Sept 30 against MIT. For most of the new players, this was their first water polo game. On Sun. Oct. 14, the girls also had a joint practice with Wellesley College.

We were all very excited to see the new players at our first meeting of the season. We know the information may be slightly overwhelming but don’t worry. We’ll be there to help you!

Here’s a quick recap of what we discussed:

Practices: It would be best if you would show up to as many practices as you can. If you want to practice swimming or do swim sets, you can join the returning players on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

Fun-raising: In order for us to travel and compete in tournaments, especially the one in Florida on December 1-2, we’re going to work as a team to raise money. Plus, fundraisers are great team-bonding events.

Agganis Clean-Up: Mark your calendar for the Agganis clean up on December 8 at 9pm. We raise a lot of money and we need as many people to help out.

Dues: For this season, dues are $60. You can pay in cash or make the cheque out to BU Women’s Water Polo. Our treasurer, Shireen, will be collecting them from Sept. 27-30.

If you’re still unsure about joining, come to our practices and see if you like water polo. We’ll teach you how to egg beat or throw a ball in the water. You’ll be a water polo player in no time. See you guys on Friday!

The Terriers said farewell to their dear teammates who left the team last May. Best of luck to you cheetahs! With the new academic year drawing near, the Terriers eagerly welcome new players.
Join us at SPLASH on the Nickerson Field on Sunday, Sept. 2 @ 4-7pm! No experience in waterpolo is needed. We welcome all skill levels! Sign up, ask questions, meet new people, get active! Hope to see you there!

BU women’s water polo completed their first tournament of the season 3-0 bringing down Yale, Wellesley, and Bowdoin. The Terriers hosted the tournament, playing two games on Saturday and one Sunday afternoon. BU came out strong in their first game against Yale with a convincing 18-4 victory dominated by the offense of Maeve O’Connor and Allie Delillo. Yale was one of BU’s biggest competitors last year, but with a few key players graduated, the Terriers had no problem shutting them down. The second game of the day, BU was pitted against Wellesley College, who could not field a full team so had to forfeit. Although BU received a 5-0 win for the forfeit, the two teams still played for practice with Wellesley borrowing some BU players to fill out a team (we also had a surprise visit from two alumni who happened to bring suits with them and hopped in the pool to join in the polo fun! Shout out Julia Zurek and Bridget Eastes),
The cheetahs, energized from their two wins on Saturday, faced a strong Bowdoin team Sunday afternoon. Bowdoin is the defending North Atlantic Champions and the girls knew they had to score first and play tough defense if they wanted to win. With a slow first quarter, BU came back in the end to defeat Bowdoin 10-9. A real nail biter!
Congratulations to all the fresh babies on competing in their first league tournament! The team is headed down to Yale February 28-March 1 for the second tournament of the season. The girls hope to carry their momentum and dominate once again!